[network] @Spoiler; SURVEY Day 002 08:00 [open]

[spoileralert]

[ Video ]

[ Steph flashes the camera a smile - she's starving and horribly cold, so it isn't as friendly as it might have been. It fades quickly. She keeps her eyes on the camera, as one accustomed to video phones. ]

Hi. I'm Stephanie, and no, I don't know how we got here, where we are or why we're here. I'm working on those last two, though. So in that interest, I have two requests. The first is that you answer a survey: nothing somebody who kidnapped you wouldn't already know or be able to find out easily. So far I haven't seen that we have much in common with each other. For that matter, it seems like we might not have, like, planets or time periods in common. [ She grimaces apologetically. ] Which is weird, so feel free to take your time with that one.

The second is this: Try to map your location. These are all going to be disconnected for a while, but given time they might come together. There's a program on your tablet that lets you draw pictures - use that. Let's assume that the sun rises in the east and north is up. Uh... if you don't usually have a north that's left-east up-north right-west and down-south. Make a note if you run into someone, and list what you find. That includes those massive snow walls people have been talking about.

On that note, a third thing: don't go wandering out into the snow if you're not sure you'll be able to get someplace warmer before nightfall. People get lost in snow easily, and tend to go a little crazy if they get cold enough. I don't know what last night was about, but it's insane to wander out in the snow at night if you don't have the right gear or know where you're going.

[ Finally she takes a breath and lets it out in a long sigh. She managed to sound pretty professional for a terrified, starving, seventeen year old girl. ]



So that was a mouthful but I'm done now. I'm going to attach the survey as text. Respond however you like, and feel free to ask if you have questions.

[ Text ]

Name:
Age: (on a scale of pubescent to menopausal, if you want)
Place of origin:
Place of kidnapping:
Year of kidnapping:
Occupation:

Name: Stephanie Brown
Age: 17
Place of origin: Gotham, New Jersey, USA
Place of kidnapping: Gotham, New Jersey, USA
Year of kidnapping: 2015
Occupation: Student

Comments

tex and voice- ID: George Milton

[bindlestifflost]

Name: George Milton
Age: 20s
Place of origin: Auburn, California
Place of kidnapping: Soledad, California
Year of kidnapping: Your right. This is weird. 1932
Occupation: Migrant farm worker

[Voice]

I still ain't convinced some of you ain't crazy or lyin' about these years you keep mentionin'.

voice

[spoileralert]

[ She winces sympathetically while she updates her notes. ]

30s? That's rough. Not that it really gets much better in the states until around the 80s.

text and then video; ID: starspangledhero

[fifty]

Name: America
Age: 238 or like 400s technically
Place of origin: United States
Place of kidnapping: Washington DC
Year of kidnapping: 2015
Occupation: Nation

[video]

Maybe aliens put us all on some other weird planet. They'd have to have time travel too but they're aliens so they could.

[For all America has been honest about his age, he looks around nineteen.]

video;

[spoileralert]

[ Nope, still not buying it. She tries very hard not to look at him like he's seven, though. ]

Yuh-huh. What exactly does a 'nation' do?

text; id: MarbleHornets

[genreblindness]

I don't think answering surveys is going to do any good. I'm not going to just share my information with everyone here.

text;

[spoileralert]

[ She can't fault him, since that's probably how she would respond too. ]

Right now we have a lot of questions and no answers. If there's ANY connection between all of us it might lead to a clue about our kidnappers.

Text and Voice

[armoured]

[Darn it.

Al is happy to hear from Stephanie again, especially since she threatened a suicide pact if he went out and searched in the snow (which he has been doing almost non-stop during daylight hours), but he wishes she hadn't asked for text. He's still getting the hang of the tablet in general, and text is the absolute worst with his giant metal fingers and the small touch screen keyboard.]

Alpone Elric
15
Amedstris
19156

[No, you know what? He gives up and switches over to voice instead.]

I meant 1915, sorry. Um, and I'm not sure what to put for occupation. My brother is a State Alchemist, and I just travel with him, but I'm not actually employed myself.

Voice

[spoileralert]

[ Oh, Al. She is both really glad you're alive and really amused that you didn't think you could just answer it all with the voice function. It makes her feel so much better. ]

Alchemist? I think I get the 'state' part but what specifically do you mean by 'alchemist'?

text; id: LINK

[tapferkeit]

[ She's got the right idea. Link's been mapping his own square as he heads out. It's been a thorough search and further slowed by how uneasy and unwell this place had been making him feel, but he'd been working through it doggedly. Hearing that others were being advised to do the same made him feel like there was a bit of camaraderie here, even without Navi's presence.

It's the least he can do to help this woman - Stephanie, right? So he fills it out.

He struggles with the age for a moment before submitting things. It's not too easy, since he only knows the vaguely that he and Zelda had been somewhere Sacred after the battle, and that he'd not really paid attention to the year. It hadn't been important in the forest, and it wasn't the sort of time that he'd paid much attention to when he was older.

And he doesn't really have an occupation, does he? ]

Name: Link
Age: 17
Place of origin: Hyrule

Can't fill the others.

text;

[spoileralert]

[ There's a new one. She'll have to see if anyone else mentions a place called 'Hyrule'. ]

That's alright, thank you Link. Years might be hard for people from strange places.

text; ID: TW

[maskintape]

what good does the information do anybody? why are you collecting it
the other stuff is common sense but I don't see why anybody needs the survey information. Will you be asking for dental records and shoe size next or

text;

[spoileralert]

[ She takes a long time struggling with herself to not give an angry or sarcastic response. It's just hard, when she's so on edge to start with. ]

Your name is Tim, you're from Alabama and you're having an existential crisis. So far everyone from a place I recognize is American, even if they're not from the same time period. That gives our kidnappers a limited range in space if not time.

text; ID:Greed

[ossifragant]

Name: Greed
Place of kidnapping: Dublith, Amestris
Year of kidnapping: 1915

Some of these years are hard to believe.

text;

[spoileralert]

[ Yeah still not convinced 'Greed' isn't an alias. Oh well. She can only ask so much. ]

Some of these place names are hard to believe. So Amestris is a country then? Or a state?

text, then voice; ID: tiro

[fataliteas]

Name: Mami Tomoe
Age: 14
Place of origin: Mitakihara, Japan
Place of kidnapping: Mitakihara, Japan
Year of kidnapping: [uhhhhhhhh] 2011 [of....a near-future japan, im so sorry, what are canon years]
Occupation: Student

[She's not being entirely honest, but the information she's given is still technically correct. And certainly, she doesn't see how what she's provided could be used against her later. Or why she shouldn't participate. This is an attempt to find a pattern, to discern some sort of logic amid chaos and madness. To her, that's a commendable effort.

No need to mention that she's dead, or that she used to be a magical girl. She can't prove either fact even if she mentioned them.]

Thank you for your hard work, miss. These are all good ideas.

[Her voice is young, impossibly calm.]

voice;

[spoileralert]

[ Japan. The girl speaks perfect English. Maybe she was raised in the states? ]

Yeah, thanks. I'm sorry if this is a stupidly rude question, but is English your first language?

(frozen comment) video - ID: fenris

[scowls]

[ He considers the survey for a long time before he decides to respond. ]

What do you mean to do with that information?

(frozen comment) video

[spoileralert]

Just what I said: try to figure out why we were all brought here.

text and video - ID: claytonator

[dr_unconscious]

[It's a good thing that Stephanie has offered to give out her own information upfront--otherwise, with how tricky this prevailing paranoia is being, Clayton might not have answered at all. He has to really think and check his own impulses to get his head in the right place. He'd be willing to give out this information to anyone. There's nothing wrong here. He doesn't need to judge. Calm down, Epps.]

Name: Clayton Epps
Age: 30
Place of origin: [...Oh dear. Technical, or relevant? Clayton goes with relevant.] Heather Fields, Kentucky
Place of kidnapping: Granite City, Illinois
Year of kidnapping: 2018
Occupation: Emergency physician

[But because Clayton is still feeling a little suspicious, he prods her with video afterwards. He needs to be able to see her face for this. She can see his, too, naturally; it's pale and a bit strained from the oppressive atmosphere and general worry, but still attempting a small, stubborn smile.]

It's a good thing you're doin', Stephanie. Might help put all of us in a better state of mind. Been real... [Clayton pauses to drag a hand through his hair.] ...particular lately. You notice?

[He recovers quickly to change the subject. Based on the other responses to her message, Stephanie has almost certainly noticed. They shouldn't linger on it.]

You seem awful organized for this sort of thing. If you don't mind my askin', what kind of student are you? You ain't in college yet, right?

video

[spoileralert]

[ Oh wow a doctor, probably the most useful person reachable on the network. That is definitely getting a star on her notes. She grins proudly at him. ]

The news-blog-running kind.

[ It's a gossip blog. 'News' just sounds so much better. ]

text/voice - ID: Sakuraba

[feelingepic]

Name: Sakuraba Neku
Age: 15
Place of origin: Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
Place of kidnapping: Same
Year of kidnapping: Why would there be different years? 2007
Occupation: I'm a high school student.

voice;

I've been drawing as I go. I'm not sure how accurate it is with proportions, but getting lost is the last thing I want.

voice

[spoileralert]

[ She might be in love. ]

That's great! Rough proportions are fine as long as it's not, like, a mile looking like ten feet.

Text - Video : ID: thelonewanderer

[vaultexile]

Name: Hope Irving
Age: 19
Place of origin: Capital Wasteland, Washington DC
Place of kidnapping: Megaton, Capital Wasteland
Year of kidnapping: 2277
Occupation: Wanderer, occasional Brotherhood of Steel Knight

[Video]

Good idea with the maps.

Looks like I'm not the only one from places other people don't believe in. We can band together and form a group called "maybe you're the crazy one ever think of that?"

[One of these days Hope will not use humour and sarcasm to cover her fear, this is not one of those days.]

Video

[spoileralert]

[ Steph is so with you, Hope. ]

Thanks, I thought so too.

Better make it a support group: 'I Give Up On Things Making Sense'.

text, id: cgriffin

[coleader]

Clarke. 18. 2149.

What have you found so far?

text;

[spoileralert]

Aside from the weirdness I already mentioned? Somehow we all speak the same language and anything that might be used as a weapon has been confiscated.

text/voice, id: Apollo

[apolly]

Name: Apollo
Age: 23
Place of origin: LA, California
Place of kidnapping: La, California
Year of kidnapping: 2028
Occupation: defense attorney

VOICE:

I've been drawing what I see on this tablet... thing. It's a little weird.

voice;

[spoileralert]

[ She's enthusiastic about the mapping, but more importantly: ]

Is your name really Apollo? Because that's pretty awesome.

text/video; ID: Bowman; later in the evening

[pointnshoot]

[Well, alright, but only because he recognizes the importance of knowing who all is here and she kind of has a point about the information being obtainable by other means.]

Name: Bard
Age: 43
Place of origin: Lake-town, the Long Lake, east of Mirkwood
Place of kidnapping: the ruins of Dale, south of Erebor and east of Mirkwood
Year of kidnapping: Third Age 2941
Occupation: bargeman

[And then, because it seems rude not to answer in kind even though he has little to say, he switches to video. It's hard to tell whether the faintly haggard look is a recent development or just part of his natural state.]

If you require further assistance, you need only ask. I've never been much of a record-keeper, but getting people organized and taken care of is hard enough work when they're all together.

video;

[spoileralert]

[ Having found another human being and resisted the urge to continue her search for food into the deadly evening, Steph can muster an exhausted smile for Bard. ]

I don't know how much I can do about keeping people taken care of, but record-keeping is no problem.

Have you found anything useful?

Text and Voice - ID: HGWELLS

[indelibleink]

Name: Helena Wells
Age: Physically speaking, thirty-eight
Place of origin: London, England
Place of kidnapping: America
Year of kidnapping: 2014
Occupation: Forensic scientist

[Voice]

What I find most curious is the lack of technology beyond plumbing and these tablets. And the one machine I found that dispenses SD cards for the tablets.

Voice

[spoileralert]

Really? That's the most curious thing to you? I mean War of the Worlds and Dr. Moreau are nothing compared to mass kidnapping across space, time and alternate universes, with the added effect of magic translation and superpower suppression.

[ She assumes Helena's parents were just fans, and probably read all the books to her. Or else she read them because no doubt everyone and their brother made book references whether or not she understood them. ]

voice, the uninspired ID of lancer;

[croi]

[God, a serious answer would be something like

Name: Cú Chulainn
Age: Several hundred years old, 20something, or a week or two old depending on how you look at it
Place of origin: Ireland
Place of kidnapping: Japan
Year of kidnapping: Some point in the early 2000s
Occupation: Servant, an undead spirit raised from the grave to do battle

He can't just do that. But he can respect professional when it comes from a terrified, starving seventeen year old girl, and it deserves a response.]

Sorry. They're not here, but my boss would still kill- [Hurr. ...oh, right, talking.] -me if I gave you a serious answer.

Thank god, that first icon was SUPER SKEEVY

[spoileralert]

[ She grins wryly, assuming he's at least partly joking. ]

Right, I'm putting you down as Villainous Henchman, Assassin for Hire or Government Operative.

text/video; ID: Zelda

[sageprincess]

[Zelda's response comes late in the night, after making her first face-to-face encounter since she awoke in this snowy wasteland and subsequently trying to resist clocking him in the head with a 2x4 "just to be on the safe side". After trying to sleep only to be awoken by fits of nausea and the sound of ghostly footsteps echoing through the house.

She's very tired, and has a rather full day, and the urge to be suspicious is there, but... information is good. Knowledge has kept her alive in the past far more than her own personal strength, and a lack of it has hurt her far more than most things have. She feels like she's being driven half mad between the town's atmosphere warring with her own nature, but eventually, quietly, another answer appears on Stephanie's survey.]

Name: Zelda
Age: 17
Place of origin: Castle Town, Hyrule
Place of kidnapping: Castle Town, Hyrule
Year of kidnapping: [some dating system that is not earth-like DAMMIT NINTENDO]

[Well, just because she answered doesn't mean she's entirely honest. Honest enough for the purposes of the survey, she hopes, but talking about precisely where she was when she was grabbed would likely open up another can of worms she just doesn't have the energy to deal with right now.

The woman that appears on screen looks a bit eerie, lit only by the light of her tablet, and vaguely ill, but not unkind.]

I would rather keep my occupation to myself at this time, if that is all right. It seems I am at a disadvantage when it comes to these... devices, unfortunately, but a decent map sounds like a valuable asset. I will see what I can do.

[Drawing program, huh? Something she'll have to fiddle with later.]

video;

[spoileralert]

That's ok, every little bit helps.

[ Here's another familiar face Steph doesn't have many notes on. ]

Um, do you know a guy named Link? He heard your name and kinda freaked out.

text;

[asteric]

The purpose of gathering this information is to work together?

( sorry, it's an obvious question, but it he has to ask. )

ext;

[spoileralert]

Yeah, of course.

[ Though her motivation is primarily selfish. ]

Video+Text | ID: Technicalities

[tadashiwashere]

[After seeing Stephanie's video, Tadashi spends some time considering whether to reply or not. He's freezing, has no idea where he is, and everything about the situation feels wrong. He's almost sick with nerves, too, but despite all that, he needs to start somewhere.

His video feed cuts in, revealing Tadashi, his expression a mix of concern and uncertainty... plus a little fear. The background of the video is the living room of the partially ruined building in area X9. He coughs once, clearing his throat.]

Tadashi Hamada here. Did you see the face of a kidnapper -- a voice, a feeling -- anything at all?

[For now, he'll ignore the discrepancy in years and the mention of not having planets in common. He has to work through this one step at a time. If he tries to get ahead of himself, or wrap his brain around things that seem too unrealistic, it will distract him from noticing more important clues about what's going on.]


Name: Tadashi Hamada
Age: 20
Place of origin: San Fransokyo, CA
Place of kidnapping:San Fransokyo, CA
Year of kidnapping: 2032
Occupation: Student

Video

[spoileralert]

[ Oh. Oh darling. She shrugs helplessly. ]

The last thing I remember is sitting on a couch with my friends watching bad movies. Sorry. If anyone else saw anything they haven't mentioned it online.

text | ID: winston

[reimagines]

[ He's taken the time to trawl the network and read the responses before actually responding to her. It's useful, what she's asked for, but that doesn't mean he has to like it. Besides, he still has a lingering distaste for people who run news blogs. They're vultures, as far as he's concerned. ]

Presumably you're making notes. Will those also be in the public domain? [ Like these responses are. ]

text

[spoileralert]

[ Oh, she's worse than a vulture. She's a crow. She will mob you. ]

The important things. The minutiae are easy enough to pick out if anyone's really interested.

text, voice - ID: mamslamizou

[hugeballs]

Name: Futatsuiwa Mamizou
Age: old enough to be your mother's mother, dear :)
Place of origin: Sado Island, Japan
Place of kidnapping: Japan
Year of kidnapping: Season 130 (2015, Year of Moon, Autumn, and Earth)
Occupation: moneylender, writer, book collector

[ Voice ]

Isn't it amazing how so many people from so many different times and places can communicate so clearly to each other?

voice;

[spoileralert]

Mostly it's confusing. I know for a fact that some of us don't speak the same language.

text | ID: misaki

[nyantan]

name: shiki misaki
age: 15
place of origin: tokyo, japan
place of kidnapping: shibuya, a ward in tokyo
year of kidnapping: 2007 (you're really from 2015?? how is that even possible)
occupation: student, seamstress

[there you go stephanie, have yet another 15 year old kidnapped from shibuya circa 2007]

its kind of a relief to know that there's other people out there stuck in the same situation as me... it must be a pretty huge place if we're not all running into each other though

text;

[spoileralert]

It's hard to say with the cold making it hard to travel.

Do you know a Neku Sakuraba?

[ At least one theory seems to be working out. ]

text; ID: Nobody

[promises_to_keep]

[He's been going through and reading all the information people are posting because he's nosy like that, so he figures it's only fair to share a bit of his own.]

Name: Lea
Age: 28
Place of Origin: Radiant Garden

The year, though, that... kinda varies. It's complicated. I was actually between locations when I was ganked to this place, for that matter; thought maybe I just took a wrong turn, but it seems that isn't the case.

[He's gonna leave 'occupation' blank as well, because that is also complicated. Ex-assassin for the Darkness Mafia turned clumsy good guy and Keyblade student??? Yeah he's not exactly interested in trying to explain that part.]

Been trying to keep track of where I've been, though. The camera option on these things is handy for that, too. So much looks the same in the snow, so it helps to have an actual picture to compare.

text;

[spoileralert]

[ HaHA, a name to go with the user ID. ]

Good idea. That'll probably help with scale, too.

text: ID: Summoner (Sorry so late to this)

[ninjainviolet]

Name: Sheena Fujibayashi
Age: 19
Place of origin: Tethe'alla
Place of kidnapping: Tethe'alla
Year of kidnapping: (?)
Occupation: Ninja/Emissary of Peace

I don't think my planet's calendar matches anyone else's...so I left that blank.

text;

[spoileralert]

[ Wait what there are ninjas on other planets? And they can be peace emissaries? Ok, ok, chalk it up to cultural differences, you'll be much happier that way. ]

I'm guessing it's safe to assume that anyone from the same planet is from roughly the same area?